Central Asian Mammals and Climate Adaptation

Launched in 2021, the Central Asian Mammals and Climate Adaptation (CAMCA) project, worked with communities and governments in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan to increase the resilience of flagship mountain species - snow leopard, argali, Central Asian ibex, Tien Shan maral, Bukhara deer, Himalayan brown bear - and associated ecosystems to climate change and related threats.

Central Asia is highly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, threatening wildlife populations, habitats, and ecosystem services. Integration of climate change considerations into biodiversity and ecosystem management is not yet sufficiently applied, in particular in the management of protected areas and in decision-making. The project goal was therefore to increase the resilience of Central Asia flagship mountain and other migratory species and associated ecosystems to climate change and related threats. It benefits both wildlife and local communities in pilot sites in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan by sup-porting climate change-informed, community-based wildlife management in and out-side of protected areas, reducing human-wildlife conflicts, and contributing to landscape permeability.

The CAMCA project was a UNEP led project funded by the International Climate Initiative (IKI) from the German government, It included eleven partner organizations and covered pilot sites in three Central Asian countries.